Rayona

This blog will pertain to the chapter entitled "Rayona" in the novel A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris. I think that this chapter does a good job of giving insight into the life of Rayona as a 1/2 Black, 1/2 American Indian girl. It was interesting to me that people on the reservation discriminated against and made fun of her for not being of full American Indian ancestry. After discussing the position of certain breeds within the American Indian society this seemed to make a little more sense however. As discussed in class there is a ranking system of different 1/2 American Indian people who are mixed with another ethnicity. The ranking we discussed is as follows:
1. Black Indians and Samoan Indians
2. Mexican Indians
3. White Indians
and somewhere further down the list is Asian Indians.
This ranking system explains why Rayona wasn't as fully accepted on the reservation as her mother and her grandmother were. Rayona is not full blooded Indian and therefore she is seen as inferior within the society on her reservation.
Another interesting aspect of this chapter was the familial ties among Rayona's family and on the reservation as a whole. The separation that Rayona experienced from her dad seemed to embody the idea of matrilineal heritage. The importance of women in the determining of status within an American Indian tribe is greatly dealt with in this novel. Due to the importance of a matriarchal society it was seen that Rayona's status was affected by her mother Christine's position on the reservation. Christine was not highly admired by the people on the reservation; however, having ties with a full blooded American Indian helped Rayona at least a little.
This chapter did a great job describing reservation life and American Indian culture through the perspective of Rayona and I am excited to see the differing viewpoints of her mother Christine and her grandmother Ida.